Renting Video Games.

Well, you see, I love it when people continue to perpetuate the whole 'gamers are a bunch of whiny, lazy, useless young men who possess the maturity level of a two year old'. It just fills my heart with joy.

I'll drop the topic but I don't think anyone has seen that commercial and went "Yep, gamers are a bunch of immature brats who through fits!"

Considering that I'm mostly a PC gamer, renting isn't exactly an option. Not to mention that both of our old local rental stores have shut down*

That's the exact impression I got from the video. What's even worse is that bad is supremely subjective too. I mean, some I may not buy if I rent, but then I'll regret it later. There's a reason why we were able to beat Sonic 2006 and not Sonic Unleashed. Because the former was a lot more fun and we could play multiplayer. The lack of multiplayer in a lot of the newer Sonic games is disheartening as is. All the more reason I want it bought so one can take their time playing it.

Likewise, if it costs 20 dollars to rent a game for a month, I probably won't be playing it the entire time. But if it costs 60 dollars and I have it forever, I'm going to be playing it more in the end. Thus, I have to keep spending money just to play a single game, when I never have to spend money again. I also don't have to worry about late fees either.

Generally, the only time any of my family bothers to rent a game is while on Vacation(when I'm part of the process). We're leaving right after we have to bring the game back anyway. Besides that, a lot of games that I want are cheap as hell. I also don't drive, so it's more of a pain in the butt to constantly go out, and I don't live right next to a rental place. Thus, it's just annoying instead. I'm more a buyer regardless. Can't say I liked every purchase, but I'm one of those people who have the money anyway. So why not spend it?

edited 3rd Feb '12 5:25:16 AM by Hydronix

I do rent games on occasion the shorter ones anyways. I have access to both a family video and a video game enabled redbox in the local area. I feel a little guilty when I use them tho- because I usually rent short games. At $2.00/5 days at the video store that is a pretty damn good deal.

edited 3rd Feb '12 5:14:00 PM by stevebat

man i havent rented in years...i think the local library stopped doing it actually.

i have pretty good memories of those 2 times i actually rented something thou-

wait, no, it gave me nightmares for months. fuckin giant spider levels...

but anyway

have games really been getting shorter? they seem to have been getting longer to me...granted, im still catching up to the current gen so its not like i have any experience with the length of games besides the few recent pc games.

I haven't rented a game since Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection in summer 2009.

Problem with Game Fly is they auto-bill you, and as someone who technically probably could afford to do it, the chances of them deducting my payment right after I've nearly emptied my bank account paying for an emergency room visit or something are irritatingly high.

I'll stick with buying games, since I can choose when and how much I want to spend.

Come to think of it, my folks don't really agree with renting at all. The last time I tried to rent a game, they just went out and bought it at full price.

At least it was pleasantly surprising game.

I do rent quite a bit. A weekly rental costs 2 Euros for PS 2 games, and 6 for PS 3. In reality though, rentals are the way for me to tell if I'll buy a game. If I like it enough, I probably will. Since I don't trust reviews at all, this really helps.

I also tend to rent games that don't take long. For instance, I rent most fighting games, since I play casually and for fun, while my skills are average. With an RPG that takes days to beat, on the other hand, I usually go with buying.

My take on the Escapist? Ignore the video reviews. But watch the "Miracle of Sound" ones Gavin Dunne and Justin Clouse put out. If they can convincingly make the gameplay look good and don't seem to be forcing it, then the game is worth a punt for a rental at least.

Comin' For Your Tank makes me want to buy Battlefield 3, Sovngarde Song makes me proud to have bought Skyrim and the New Black Gold makes me wonder why Square didn't make it the song for a trailer.

I either rent games that are incredibly short (Sonic Generations) or games that I am interested in but suspicious of actual quality of game.

I bought Final Fantasy XIII for less than the cost of a weeks rental from Blockbusters.

At the rate I acquire new games, or see new games I'm interested it, it's far cheaper for me to simply buy games.

Blockbusters is a scam.

I dont know what this means. You mean you dont buy games often?

Shit neither do I...I think the last game I bought for a console was...a year and a half ago.

Renting lets me play games more often. No buyers remorse, and MUCH MUCH cheaper.

edited 4th Feb '12 1:03:41 PM by Thorn14

Indeed, I don't buy games often. And that's generally because I only buy titles I'm interested in and want to have around. If I buy maybe three new games a year for about 30 bucks each, then that's a lot cheaper than a 15-dollar-a-month rental service. If I get new games outside of that, it's frequently just used titles that cost under 10 bucks.

Guess that requires patience I do not have.

Or having a tremendous backlog

Since Netflix et al. are essentially killing the video rental market, and there are (to my knowlege) no places that rent just video games, whenever a rental place goes under, the games go with it.